Miracle
by a novelist
Summary: A tragic accident leaves Beck and Tori fighting for their lives. Injured and helpless, they can only pray for a miracle to save their lives. Oneshot.


Hello again! So, a couple things. First of all, yes, it's snowing throughout this story. This _is_ fiction, however, so I'll allow it for now, and hopefully, you will, too. Second, there are a couple of places that may gross some readers out. It's not terrible, but I thought I should mention it.

That's it for now. Enjoy!

* * *

She awoke to the soft sound of whirling wind. She felt the frigid breeze slap against her face. She grimaced at the feeling. She didn't need to open her eyes to know that it was morning already, but she did anyway. She was greeted by grey clouds and cold raindrops.

Groaning miserably, Tori struggled to shift positions in her seat. Unfortunately, their car had been struck by who was now a hit and run driver on the driver's side, damaging the door in such a way that it was now permanently shut. Part of the dented door jabbed into her side, making it painful to even breathe. A majority of her body was trapped between the crushed metal of the car, making it nearly impossible to move.

She winced at the searing pain in her ribs as she inhaled deeply. "Beck," she moaned. She reached out with her free hand and grasped his. His skin was cold to the touch and his hand limp in her own. For a fleeing moment, she feared that he was already gone. "Beck, are you – are you awake?" _Or alive,_ she mentally added.

Silence followed her question, and suddenly, a wave of sheer terror passed through her. Again, she said his name, her voice stronger now and full of panic. She was relieved to hear a muffled moan in response.

"Are you okay?" he mumbled.

She scoffed. "No worse than before," she answered.

"Good." His grip on her hand tightened. "Can you move at all?"

She shook her head slightly. "No, not really. Can you?"

"Not very much." He was lying on his side, just like the car itself. His right arm was beneath him, resting at an unnatural angle. He grimaced at the sight, but quickly pushed the matter aside. "If I can get my left leg free, I might be able to break a window and get out." He squeezed her hand comfortingly before releasing it. "We're going to be okay." He placed his hand on the dashboard firmly, then pushed against it as hard as he could, desperately trying to pull his trapped leg free.

For a moment, Tori watched him. Tears sprung to her eyes as she realized how hopeless his effort was. She sighed softly. "Beck."

He continued to struggle, using only his good arm as support. He didn't look at her as he answered, "Yeah?"

She released a trembling breath. Her breath came out in small puffs. "Do you think anyone will find us out here?"

With a frustrated grunt, Beck heavily fell back in his seat. Silence fell between them. When he finally answered, his voice was so quiet that the sound of it almost disappeared in the wind. He whispered, "I don't know."

/ /

Miles away, later that night, a small group of four gathered in the dorm recreational room. Mugs of steaming hot cocoa sat in front of them, untouched. It was late, and although everyone was exhausted, they knew that they had a much more serious issue to deal with at the moment. Pushing all other matters aside, they focused entirely on their missing friends.

"So, they never made it home," Robbie mused. He rubbed his eyes wearily. "How long have they been missing?"

"Just under twenty-four hours," Andre responded. He took a seat beside his fiancé. Jade smiled weakly at him as he took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. "Beck never made it back to our apartment, and Tori never returned to the dorms." He shrugged. "I figured they just crashed at a friend's place after the party. But then, neither of them showed up for class today. They're just gone."

"Have the police been called?" Cat asked. She reached out and wrapped her hands around the hot mug in front of her.

Andre shook his head. "No. Because they aren't minors and they've been missing for less than twenty-four hours, they won't offer their assistance yet. Not unless we can prove that they've gone missing under suspicious circumstances."

Jade scoffed. "This isn't considered suspicious?"

Andre shrugged. "I guess not." He sighed heavily. "So, what do we do first? They obviously didn't stay anywhere near the party. Someone would have seen them, or at least their car."

"And they never made it back to the dorms or the apartment," Cat added.

"So, somewhere between the party and here, something went wrong. Something kept them from coming home last night." Andre stood, removing his coat from the back of his chair. "We need to drive the same route they did. Maybe we'll find something there."

The four friends stood, pulling on their own coats. "We'll have to split up. We can't all fit in my truck. It's too full of other crap, and I don't have the time to deal with it right now," Andre said.

"We can take my car," Jade offered.

Andre shook his head. "No, it's too slick outside. Most of the roads are iced over already." He shrugged. "Nothing will be perfect when driving on ice, of course, but we'll need something that is fit for this type of weather."

"We'll take my truck," Robbie said. He removed his keys from his jacket pocket. "It's parked right out front."

Andre nodded. "Good. Let's head out."

/ /

It began to snow.

Beck knew the moment that it did because what little bit of space he once had to see out of was now covered with a thin layer of white snow. He stared back at it in awe, amazed at the sight of it, but also irritated by the fact that he was not able to enjoy the first snow Los Angeles had gotten in years. Instead, here he was, trapped in an overturned, crumpled car, his fate left entirely in the hands of God.

Beside him, his girlfriend lay motionless. Her labored breathing was the only indication that she was still alive. He knew they both had a concussion, at the very least, if not worse. He cringed each time she closed her eyes even for a few minutes, knowing that there was a great possibility they would never open again.

He was about to call out to her, but a sudden wave of nausea silenced him. He turned his head away from her just before he retched. He caught only a glimpse of something the color scarlet as it dripped from his mouth. Blood pooled on the same cold glass his cheek rested upon. He knew then that what he suffered from was much worse than a simple concussion. He needed help soon, as did she, or neither of them would make it out alive.

Again, he placed his hand on the dashboard. Ignoring his pounding headache and the spinning world around him, he tried to free himself, now more determined than ever before to get the help they needed.

/ /

On the opposite side of the city, their friends were just merging onto the interstate. It was slow moving. Many of the cars slowed to a crawl as they made their way down the road, fighting against the icy, snowy weather.

Andre tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. "Come on, come on," he muttered. He leaned forward, struggling to see through the snow, which had certainly picked up over the past few minutes alone.

Jade, who sat in the passenger seat, turned and looked out her window. Everything was covered in white for the first time in years. It was an amazing sight, to anyone else. But to her, it was just one more obstacle standing in the way of the four friends as they continued their desperate search.

"Jade." Andre glanced at her worriedly. "Are you okay?"

She reluctantly broke her gaze from the view outside. She looked to her left and found herself looking into her fiancé's worried, dark eyes. She managed a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm fine," she lied. She reached out and turned on the heater. "Do you really think they went this way?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea," he answered. His grip on the steering wheel tightened. "It would have been logical for them to go this way, but there's still a back way they could have taken. We'll try that next."

She nodded. "Fine." Shivering, she returned her gaze to the window.

In front of them, cars were sliding on the icy road, some ramming into each other like bumper cars. Andre clearly tensed as he watched a car in front of him start for the ditch, left with only the snow-covered grass to stop it.

"Oh, my God," he whispered.

Suddenly, his cell phone rang. He glanced at it briefly before asking, "Jade, can you answer that, please?"

Sighing, she snatched up the phone and held it to her ear. "Yeah, what is it?"

Andre rolled his eyes at her insolence. He opened his mouth to comment, but decided against it. He returned his eyes to the road.

Jade gave only one word responses to the caller. After a few minutes, she finally hung up. She handed Andre his phone back. "That was Robbie," she said. "He needs to stop at the next gas station."

"Fine." He turned on his right turn signal as they came up on an exit. "It's getting worse out here, anyway. Maybe we should stop and wait for the snow to let up."

He pulled into a gas station just off the interstate. Robbie followed suit. His truck had barely crawled to a stop before Cat jumped out and ran for the door, nearly slipping on the ice on the way in. She quickly disappeared into the station.

"What was her problem?" Jade asked as she stepped out of Andre's truck. She slammed the door shut. Andre came up behind her and slipped his arm around her waist.

"Take a guess," Robbie answered. He leaned against his rusty, red truck. He crossed his arms. "So, we're almost to the apartment complex that the party was at. I don't think they came this way. Someone would have seen them if they had car trouble, or even went off the road."

"You're right." Andre sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Cat returned and took her place beside Robbie. She hooked her arm through his. "So, what now?" she asked.

"There's only one other place they could be, and that's down Old Highway 50. It's the only other route they could have taken."

"Going down that road would be suicide. You know that, right?" Jade said. "It's rarely used when the weather is decent. Do you seriously think it's smart to go down it now?"

"What other choice do we have?" Andre sighed. "Whoever doesn't want to go doesn't have to. You can take Robbie's truck back to campus." He removed his keys from his coat pocket. "I'm going down that road, and I'm going to find them. Something obviously went very wrong for them not to be home yet. I'm not going to leave them out there to die. Who's with me?"

Silence followed his question. Andre slowly looked around the group, meeting each person's eyes evenly. He locked eyes with Robbie for just a moment, but that was all it took. Both young men knew what they had to do.

"I'll go with you," Robbie said. He fumbled with his keys in his pocket before tossing them to Jade. "Take Cat back to the dorms. There's no reason that all four of us have to be out right now. You two can stay there while we go back out. If we find anything out, we'll call you."

Jade nodded. "Okay." She gave Andre a quick peck on the cheek. "Be safe," she said. "We don't need anything happening to you, too."

Andre smiled softly. "We'll be careful," he promised. "Drive safe. I love you."

"I love you, too. Goodbye."

/ /

He was free. After struggling for several hours, enduring intense pain that no one should ever have to experience, he was finally free. The thought brought tears of joy to his eyes, but he quickly blinked them back, knowing that although he had freed his legs, he was still trapped in the car.

For now.

With his left arm, he shifted positions the best he could and lifted his right foot above the dashboard, aiming it at an already cracked area of the windshield. Then, using all of the strength he had left in him, he kicked at the glass, praying it would break enough to offer them an escape.

Beside him, Tori released a soft moan. "Beck," she mumbled. "What's going on?"

He grunted as he continued to kick at the windshield. He heard the faint sound of the glass cracking even more and knew he was making progress. "I'm getting us out of here," he said. He kicked again, and suddenly, a wave of relief passed through him as pieces of glass began to fall. "We're going to get out of here, babe. I promise."

She sighed softly. "Don't make promises you can't keep," she mumbled. Beck knew from the sound of her voice that she was nearly gone already. Their time was quickly running out.

He kicked one last time, and a moment later, shards of glass rained down on them. "Thank God," he whispered. With a trembling hand he reached out to wipe away the glass. Any other time, he would have been wary of doing so without protection, but by this point, he knew this was already a matter of life or death.

The amount of space he had cleared was very small, but he knew he had to make it work. The rest of the windshield had been smashed in the accident and made inaccessible. He used his left arm to pull himself out. It took several attempts. Many times, he fell back into the car, too weak and exhausted to complete the otherwise simple task. He didn't give up, however, and at last, he managed to free himself from the car.

He didn't believe it himself. It wasn't until he felt the cold, wet snowflakes falling onto his bloodied and bruised face that he realized the reality of what had just happened.

At last, he was free.

His triumph was short lived. He tried to stand, but couldn't. It was then that he noticed the red-stained snow around him, and he became aware of an intense pain in his leg. He looked down at the leg that had been trapped and pinned down by the crushed front-end of the car. His pant leg was ripped and covered in blood, and something was protruding through his skin. His bone, he realized after a moment. His leg was broken and utterly useless.

He winced at the sight, and suddenly, another wave of nausea passed over him. Whether it was because of head trauma or the sight of blood, he didn't quite know. As he tried to move his leg again, blinding pain overcame him. He fought the urge to vocally express his agony. He knew then that his plan to find help was useless.

Biting down hard on his lower lip to silence himself, he began to pull himself closer to the car, using only his arm to move. For the last time, he reached through the shattered windshield and into the car. A moment later, he found his girlfriend's hand. He grasped it firmly.

"Tori," he said. "Babe, can you hear me? Are you awake?"

Her fingers tightened over his own. "Yes," she answered softly. "You need to go find help. Who knows how long it will be before someone finds us out here."

He shook his head. "I can't," he whispered. "If I could, I would, trust me, but I just – " he swallowed hard. "We have to wait for help to find us."

She was quiet for a long moment. Finally, she dared to ask the eerie question that had haunted him for hours. Her voice trembled as she asked, "We're going to die here, aren't we?"

He didn't answer, but they both knew what his response would have been. The next few moments would most likely be their last.

He sighed quietly, but the sound disappeared in the wind. He wished more than anything that he could hold her one last time. He wished he could comfort her and make her pain go away. He wished.

Darkness was threatening to overtake him. He squeezed her hand gently one last time. "I'll always love you," he whispered. "No matter what. You know that, right?"

"Of course," she whispered.

He sighed, fighting back tears. "Close your eyes," he whispered. "Just – don't fight it anymore. Close your eyes, babe, and soon, all of your pain will go away."

Tears fell from her own eyes, but she nodded slightly and obeyed. Her eyes slid closed and so did his as together, they gave up their fight and waited patiently for blissful death to find them.

/ /

In her twenty years of life, Tori had heard and read many stories about Heaven. She expected to see a bright light and angels clad in white, rejoicing as they worshiped the Lord. She expected to see her long lost relatives and a place of pure perfection. She expected so many things, but when she finally opened her eyes, she never expected to see the sight she found before her.

There was certainly a bright light – that much she knew for sure. It was quite painful to look at. She squinted and looked away, but then groaned miserably at the intense pain that surged through her body at the movement. She realized then that this place was far from Heaven.

She lay there, still, as she tried to place where she was. A hospital, she realized at last. She heard the steady beat of a heart monitor beside her bed. She felt the tube that was firmly wrapped around her swollen, bruised face, providing her with oxygen and helping her breathe. She was even faintly aware of the needle in her arm that pumped strong pain medication into her system, minimizing her agony, but not diminishing it entirely. She slowly looked around in confusion.

She wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be dead. What had happened?

Suddenly, her door opened and a doctor stepped in. Seeing that Tori was awake, the older woman smiled kindly at her. "Good evening," she said. She walked over to the bed. "I'm glad to see that you're awake. You gave us quite a scare."

Tori furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "How did I get here?" she asked.

The doctor shrugged. "A couple of guys called in about three in the morning a few days ago, requesting an ambulance. They had found both you and another young man along a side road. Your car was hidden among the trees, but - "

"Beck," Tori breathed suddenly, interrupting her. "Oh, my God, where is he? Where is Beck? Is he okay?" She struggled to sit up in bed, but stopped still at the searing pain that shot through her body, reminding her of the severity of her injuries.

"Just relax," the doctor said. She walked over to the bed and checked the IV attached to Tori's arm. "He's stable. He's in the next room, actually. He's doing well, especially considering his injuries. He was even worse off than you were, you know." She removed Tori's chart from the foot of the bed. "Ms. Vega, are you experiencing much pain right now?"

Inwardly, Tori groaned, suddenly too anxious to see her boyfriend to think of much else. "No, not much," she lied. "When can I see him?"

"Right now."

Startled, both women turned their eyes toward the door. A familiar figure was there, now confined to a wheelchair due to his injuries. Despite everything, he gave Tori his familiar, loving smile. Her heart melted at the sight.

The doctor smiled softly as she capped her pen and returned the chart to its proper place. "I'll leave you two alone," she said. "I'm through here for now. But, Ms. Vega, if you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call for a nurse." She quickly left the room.

Silence fell heavily in the room. For a long time, neither Tori nor Beck spoke a word. He quietly made his way to her bedside and gently took her hand and kissed it. His dark eyes never left her.

She reached up and wiped at her eyes as tears of relief fell from them. She held her gaze as she took in everything about him: the cast on his left leg and the sling that supported his right arm, the eye that was swollen shut and bruised, and the deep, large cuts that now covered his body. But that was only the outside, and she could only imagine what damage had been done internally. She took everything in and realized just how lucky they both were.

She finally broke the silence. "We should be dead," she said softly. "How could we have survived that accident? It isn't logical."

Beck smiled faintly. "There isn't any logic involved with miracles," he answered. She gave him a strange look and opened her mouth to respond. Before she could, however, he leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips. "Besides, I made you a promise. You didn't think I was one to break a promise, did you?"

Despite everything, she laughed, then winced at the pain in her ribs. "Don't make me laugh," she said. "It hurts too much."

He smirked. "Yeah, a collapsed lung and broken ribs will do that to you."

"But yeah, you did make me a promise, and now, here we are."

He nodded slightly. "Here we are." He leaned back in the wheelchair. His grip on her hand tightened. "You have no idea how scared I was," he said. "I thought for sure I had lost you." He shook his head slowly. "When I woke up and you weren't with me, I panicked. A doctor came in and said they'd pulled a body – a _body,_ not a person, a body – from the wreck. Right then, I just…" he sighed and looked down at their joined hands, avoiding her gaze.

"What?" she asked softly.

He shook his head again. He looked up at her with glassy eyes. He kissed her hand gently. His voice broke as he spoke again. "My entire world literally seemed to come to an end. It wasn't until yesterday that I was told you had survived the accident. But the several days I spent grieving made me realize just how much you mean to me." He kissed her again gently. "I can only thank God I was given another chance to tell you that." He reached out and caressed her cheek gently. She leaned into his touch. "I love you so much."

She smiled. "I love you, too, babe." She reached up and gently rested her hand on his. "Can I ask you something?"

He nodded. "Anything," he answered.

She hesitated a moment, then asked, "You've told me before that you don't believe in miracles. You've never seen one, so you choose not to believe in them. Yet now, you've obviously had a change of heart." She shrugged. "What changed?"

He smiled faintly. "When we were still back at the wreck, during those last few moments that we shared together, I prayed for the first time in years. I prayed harder than ever before for a miracle, not for me, but for you. That's all I cared about right then."

Tori smiled. "And your proof…you finally witnessed a miracle," she finished.

He nodded. He kissed her gently one last time. He met her eyes steadily. "You're here now," he said. "That's the only other proof I'll ever need."


End file.
